Verizon Sees DSS as Key to 5G; T-Mobile Touts Its Spectrum Depth

Verizon is betting big on dynamic spectrum sharing technology, which allows 5G to run simultaneously with 4G on multiple spectrum bands, Chief Technology Officer Kyle Malady said at the GSMA/CTIA Thrive virtual conference Wednesday. Malady also stressed the importance of the new 5G iPhone.

“Up until now, we’d have to have a whole clean set of spectrum, people would have to buy new phones, and it would really be a hassle to move them from one technology to the next,” Malady said. Customers “can enjoy all the benefits of 4G” and seamlessly get started on 5G, he said.

Verizon has been partnering with Apple for “many months” on the new iPhone “so that consumers can really see the technology shine,” Malady said. He cited advanced gaming, which he said wasn’t possible under 4G. “We’re just starting right now, and all the new apps and use cases for 5G are going to start flooding out,” he said. Verizon is laying the groundwork for 5G but is still “in the early stages,” he said. Edge computing, which is part of 5G, is also important because the “cloud” can be “hundreds of miles away,” which means latency and lag and “limits the developers in what they can really do,” he said.

T-Mobile will offer midband nationwide by Dec. 31, said President-Technology Neville Ray. “With every midband site that comes on air, our customers with 5G devices get an immediate capacity and speed boost that builds on top of our nationwide low-band 5G network.” Average speeds are 300-400 Mbps, peak above 1 Gbps, he said. “Customers are already seeing those."

“The timing and amount of spectrum” available is “really important” for 5G, said Mike Murphy, Nokia CTO-North America. “We need more midband, and we need it earlier just to solve the capacity problems we know about it, let alone” the unknown, he said. 5G will be dominant in terms of devices deployed but not until 2024, Murphy predicted. “While it may seem like a long ways away, work has already started on 6G,” he said. The U.S. is leading the world on wireless technology and regulatory support for 5G “thanks to the FCC,” he said.

5G “has gotten real, very real” with the launch of new iPhone, FCC Chairman Ajit Pai told the conference. The FCC plans a 2.5 GHz auction “shortly after” it finishes processing applications filed during the tribal priority window, he said. The FCC remains “on track” to start the C-band auction Dec. 8, he said.

Work remains to make sure everyone benefits from 5G, said FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks. “Every American deserves the opportunity to participate in the 5G revolution,” he said. “We otherwise risk devolving into two Americas.”

Artificial intelligence and sensors are an important part of 5G but also carry risks, Starks said. “We must take care that the AI used to sort this data is not tainted by conscious or unconscious bias that reinforces inequality instead of creating opportunity,” he said. “Algorithms aren’t inherently good or bad, but they can have serious consequences for things like job or housing opportunities, healthcare and policing.”

The citizens broadband radio service auction was a success partly because it was the first of flexible-use licenses in the midband “where we have that unique balance of coverage and capacity that’s so well suited for 5G,” said Office of Economics and Analytics Chief Giulia McHenry. Bidders were also interested in the county-size licenses, she said.

McHenry noted CBRS was the FCC’s first pandemic auction. The FCC had to ensure “that a team that works really tightly knit together in one room most of the time was socially distanced and was able to work remotely when necessary,” she said: “It took an immense amount of support from the auction staff as well as others throughout the commission to pull this off, really without a hitch.” Attention is now turning to the C-band auction, she said. The 2.5 GHz band auction is an FCC priority, McHenry said. “We think there’s a lot of promise,” she said: “It’s vastly underused, and we are eager to put the white spaces to work.” But the band is complicated, she said: “Each license will be unique given the incumbencies that are there now.”

“The U.S. did a great job of getting out quickly on millimeter-wave spectrum as the technology evolved, and the pivot to midband is really critical for continued U.S. leadership,” said Rachael Bender, Verizon associate general counsel. “We see other countries moving aggressively on midband, and we want to make sure the U.S. does the same.”

T-Mobile stresses the importance of having “different layers of spectrum,” and 2.5 GHz “gives you the capacity and the greatness for the network,” said Paula Timmons, director-federal legislative affairs. “We are really very vested in the midband and know that we need to squeeze out as much as we can … to be successful in 5G.”